Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

  Republished from Future Earth here.   With a “Key Must-Knows in Resilience Science” report, sustainability researchers from across the world are coming together in a new science-policy initiative. The report will inform UN agencies, governments, civil society, and businesses to build resilience to safeguard the planet. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics and conflicts are leading to unprecedented costs for economies, societies and the planet, threatening the future of humanity. In this new global crisis landscape, practicing resilience is critical to manage high uncertainty and turbulence. But in most cases, resilience is used as a general attribute for recovery or as a path to ‘bounce back’ as fast as possible. At Climate Week NYC 2024, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Global Resilience Partnership and Future Earth, announce a new initiative between science and policy with the ambition to integrate resilience science in decision-making and governance. The first outcome...

Guest blog by Alistair Scrutton and Kelsey Simpkins of Future Earth Three of the world’s foremost scientists will co-chair a commission of leading international experts to identify risks and develop a coherent suite of scientific targets to protect Earth’s life support systems. Johan Rockström, Joyeeta Gupta, and Dahe Qin will co-chair the Earth Commission, comprising an initial 19 members, announced today by the international research organization Future Earth. The group will begin immediately – and complete by 2021 – a high-level synthesis of scientific knowledge on the biophysical processes that regulate Earth’s stability and targets to ensure this stability. The commission will also explore social transformations required for sustainable development to reach these targets. The goal, ultimately, is to translate these into tangible science-based targets for Earth, specifically tailored to cities and companies. This translational work will be undertaken by a new Science Base...

Felix Dodds hopes that the upcoming Nexus conference in North Carolina will fill the Nexus approach with meaning. Photo: UN Photo When worlds collide: the food, energy and water nexus Feb 2014 21 by Jon Turney We will not solve the food security challenge unless we solve the water and energy challenges. This may be the puzzle to end all puzzles. But there’s a plan. “Everything is connected to everything else”. So went one of the “laws” of ecology framed by Barry Commoner in 1971. It’s an easy idea to sign up to, a hard one to actually work with. Academics have to specialise to get on. Policy-makers find it easier to focus on one problem at a time. Government departments and pressure groups have to define their jobs in ways that allow them to get things done. But the world just goes on being connected. Now, climate change threatens food security by jeopardizing water supplies, fracking for oil and gas competes for water, droughts lead to power station shutdo...